1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for transferring flat, flexible products from one location, such as a conveyor, to another location. The invention is especially useful for transporting newspapers between two conveyors and reorienting them for later feeding to a bagging machine.
2. Art Relating to the Invention
In the graphic arts industry, flat, flexible, printed products, such as newspapers and magazines, are often moved from one processing machine, such as an inserter, to another machine or location by line conveyors having grippers. The product is typically carried in a vertical, hanging orientation, one product per gripper. At some point along the path, the product has to be transferred from the line conveyor to another conveyor or other location, for later transport to a bagging or other machine for further processing. Very high transport speeds are necessary.
Typically, a line conveyor, as employed in the graphic arts industry, is a horizontally oriented endless chain that is equipped with a plurality of vertically oriented grippers moving overhead of other machines. The grippers clamp the top edge of the product and transport the product along. When the product arrives at its destination, the gripper opens its jaws to allow the product to fall or be removed from the conveyor to another area.
For proper handling by a bagging machine, the vertically hanging products on the overhead line conveyor need to be reoriented into a horizontal position and laid on another conveyor or other device in a serial or “singulated” arrangement, namely one product after another, flat and in single file. The spacing distance between adjacent products is also important. At present, for newspaper products, the spacing between each adjacent singulated product needs to be approximately fourteen inches, for proper, high-speed bagging to take place. However, the spacing between the vertically hanging products on the line conveyor is normally less than that, such as six inches or so, because a shorter spacing is needed to help maximize product flow speed along the conveyor.
Thus, a need exists for a high-speed transfer device that effectively (1) removes vertically oriented products from a line conveyor; (2) orients the products horizontally; (3) increases the spacing between the products; (4) singulates the products; and (5) transfers the products to another conveyor or other area for subsequent proper handling by a bagging machine or other processing machine.